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Two drugs equally effective for heart patients undergoing angioplasty

In lifesaving procedures to open blocked heart arteries a key question has persisted for years: Is use of the more expensive drug, abciximab, justified over use of the less-expensive eptifibatide

11 Sep 2007

$52.5 million settlement against Sepracor approved

Judge Morris E. Lasker of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has granted final approval of a $52.5 million settlement in two separate but related securities class actions against Sepracor Inc., a Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company.

11 Sep 2007

Novel enzyme may offer huge range of potential therapeutic agents

By guiding an enzyme down a new evolutionary pathway, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers has created a new form of an enzyme capable of producing a range of potential new therapeutic agents with anticancer and antibiotic properties.

10 Sep 2007

Congestive heart failure is rare among leukemia patients who take imatinib

Congestive heart failure rarely occurs among leukemia patients who take imatinib, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center found after an exhaustive review of the detailed medical histories of 1,276 patients who enrolled in clinical trials for the drug.

10 Sep 2007

Innovative liquid crystal technology offers promise of new drugs

A partnership between Kent State University, Summa Health System and IC-MedTech Inc. has yielded an innovative liquid crystal technology that offers the promise of new drugs which may more effectively manage cancer and other diseases.

10 Sep 2007

Jet injection system to improve skin cancer treatment

Researchers at Queen's University in Belfast have demonstrated that needle-free jet injection of an agent used in the treatment of skin cancer significantly increases the amount delivered into skin, compared to the conventional approach of topical application.

10 Sep 2007

Hospitals often put allergy sufferers ar risk

Patients are being put at risk because some hospital doctors are not always following warning procedures over known drug allergies, new research launched at the British Pharmaceutical Conference (BPC) in Manchester shows.

10 Sep 2007

Generic Coreg (carvedilol) approved in U.S.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first generic versions of Coreg (carvedilol). Coreg is a widely used medication that is FDA-approved to treat high blood pressure, mild to severe chronic heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction following a heart attack.

10 Sep 2007

New method to create natural drug products

Until now, only the intricate machinery inside cells could take a mix of enzyme ingredients, blend them together and deliver a natural product with an elaborate chemical structure such as penicillin.

5 Sep 2007

Radiation and drug combo helps boost efficacy of lung-cancer treatment

Combining radiation therapy with a drug that helps destroy blood vessels nourishing malignant tumors has been shown in mice to be significantly more effective in treating lung cancer than either approach alone, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

5 Sep 2007

Quick microchip test for dangerous and drug resistant bacteria in clinical samples

Researchers at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Surrey have developed microchips capable of quickly and cheaply identifying dangerous and drug resistant bacteria in clinical samples, scientists announced (Wednesday 5 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

5 Sep 2007

Ovation Pharmaceuticals advances development pipeline with new phase III epilepsy study

OVATION Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the initiation of a pivotal Phase III clinical trial evaluating clobazam, a unique 1,5 benzodiazapine with significant anticonvulsant properties, as adjunctive treatment for patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), one of the most severe forms of childhood epilepsy that frequently persists into adulthood.

5 Sep 2007

Fatty hearts in pre-diabetics

A simple imaging technique developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers has revealed fat buildup in the hearts of pre-diabetic people long before symptoms of heart disease or diabetes appear.

5 Sep 2007

U.S. may learn from Quebec's prescription drug plan

A new study published in The Milbank Quarterly finds a number of similarities between Canadian drug coverage and that of the United States, despite their publicized differences.

5 Sep 2007

Deodorants and breast cancer.....is there a link?

Scientists in Britain suggest they may have found a possible link between the use of deodorants and breast cancer.

4 Sep 2007

Hamburg to become Europe's hub of drug discovery

Hamburg is on its way to becoming a leading hub of Europe's academic drug discovery, with the northern German city's town hall today announcing the foundation of European ScreeningPort GmbH, a company that will run a state-of-the-art drug discovery service centre.

4 Sep 2007

Marine sponges may bring about new drugs

Thousands of interesting new compounds have been discovered inside the bodies of marine sponges according to scientists speaking today (Tuesday 4 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

4 Sep 2007

Radiation and drug combo helps boost efficacy of lung cancer treatment

3 Sep 2007

Abbott and AstraZeneca confirm Phase III clinical trials of Fenofibrate ABT-335 and Crestor as fixed-dose combination

Abbott and AstraZeneca confirmed they will advance the development of Abbott's next-generation fenofibrate ABT-335 and AstraZeneca's CRESTOR (rosuvastatin calcium) in a fixed-dose combination treatment into Phase III clinical trials.

3 Sep 2007

Clinical reality of coronary prevention in Europe : A comparison

Dr Kornelia Kotseva, Consultant Cardiologist and the Project Manager for the EUROASPIRE III survey commented "despite the increase in prophylactic drug therapy, the majority of coronary patients in Europe have still not achieved the blood pressure target and two out of five are not achieving the total cholesterol goal".

2 Sep 2007